The New Slipcover For The Old Ugly Sofa- Part 2

If you are wondering what is happening here,

you may have not read 

"The New Slipcover For The Ugly Old Sofa- Part 1".

So, If you need to catch up,
go ahead and do that
HERE.

Ok, all caught up now?

On to Part 2!

After sewing the sofa arms,
my next step was to sew the sofa decking
(the part under the seat cushions)
to the seat front panel.
So I did that and laid the decking and front
panel piece back on the sofa face down.

Then I pinned the completed arm to the decking piece,
across the front of the arm, and across
the decking into the arm.

Do you remember how I left the piping long
on the outside of the front arm panel?

Well that is now pinned between the front panel and
side panel.
You can see where the yellow pin heads
are pinned in place.
I did this to the other arm as well,  and
then took the arms and decking piece off
and sewed them together.
 

This shows the left arm sewn to the decking
and sofa front.

The next thing that has to happen is assembling the
seat back.

This sofa has a channeled or modified tight back.
This is different from a sofa that has removable cushions
for the back.

Because of the shape of this back,
it had to be made in 3 pieces and
sewn together.
I laid the fabric face down and then
pinned the tucks in place,
like the arms,
and then joined each piece with piping.

It is starting to look like a sofa at this point.

But the seat back is just tucked into the deck
and arms at this point.
Because the next step involves putting
zippers into the back panel.

 

This is a roll of cut to size upholstery zipper.

it is a roll of zipper tape and several

zipper heads.

I cut 2 pieces of the fabric
the height of the back of the sofa, by about 5 inches wide.
I stitched the zipper to the strips.

I stitched the other side of the zipper to the wide back panel piece.

With cut-to-size upholstery zipper,
you need to make sure you tack or finish
off the bottom so that you don't
accidentally zip the head off.

I took two little scraps and sewed them to the ends.
Then I pinned the back zippered panel  in place,
pulling in folds to cover the zippers.

After I got the zippers sewn on to each side of the back panel,
I pinned it, wrong side out,
to the seat back.
The seat back wrapped all the way over the
top to the back.

Then I sewed that in place.

The pieces are getting heavy now,
with as much fabric as I am wrestling.

 As each piece is joined with piping,
 it is really starting to have a finished look in places.

 The back zippers are hidden in the folds of fabric.

 So now I have the slipcover in two pieces.
The seat back is sewn to the zippered back,
and the seat deck is sewn to the arms and front panel.
 (sorry this one is so blurry)

This is where it starts to get a bit crazy!

I turned both pieces wrong side up again,
so I could pin them together and
figure out that little side panel.

I decided to sew the back piece to the
side panels so that I had a better fit
while wrangling those little side panels.

Just like the arm fronts and seat back,
these little side panels needed
to have tiny pleats where the back
connected.

So I pinned those pleats in place and tacked them down.

Believe it or not,
these little panels are the smallest
pieces in the whole sofa,
yet they caused me the most concern.

I cut the rectangles much larger and then
pinned them in place and started cutting around
to get the shape.
I was concerned that
the grain would get all wonky.
(like my technical term?)

But then I sewed those in place.

And then it was time to connect the back pieces
to the arm/deck/front pieces.

This is a picture of the excess fabric
of the arms and seat back that tuck
into the joint of the sofa.

This is what makes a nice tight, smooth look.

This is a HUGE pile of fabric to wrestle under
into my machine!

But it was worth it!
Success!!!

I love how the little side panel fit
to the rest of the cover.
The seam is tucked into the arm joint.

And the back fits nice and tight
to the side and arm panel.

At this point, I decided I wanted a ruffled skirt
all the way around the sofa.

So I measured the size I wanted the
ruffle to be, and then drew
a line all the way around the slipcover
based on that distance from the floor.

Then I pinned the piping all around the sofa.

 I added up the measurements of the
circumference of the sofa.

Because the back was separated from the front and
sides, by zippers,
the ruffle had to be in two pieces.
I figured I wanted the ruffle to be roughly
2.5 times the width of the sofa, for fullness.
 So for the back, the measurement was
75"x2.5= 187.5.
The fabric was 54" wide,
and I wanted to use full widths.
So, I could have used 3 or 4 widths
for the back.
I decided to round up and use 4 widths.
 The front and sides ruffle ended up
being 7 widths.

So I cut 11 widths,
allowing 2 extra inches in depth
for hem and gathering at the seam allowance.

 I pinned all the pieces together,
matching the design at seams.

Then I hemmed the ruffle pieces and
zig-zagged over fishing line for the gathering.

Fishing line gathers are so much easier to handle
for bulky fabric.

Then I sewed all that piping onto the slipcover.

Then I pinned and gathered
that ruffle to the slipcover,
right below the piping.

 

Next, I sewed it all down. 

Did I mention that it was getting 

really heavy to sew?

  

I folded back the selvage at the zipper

for a smooth edge.

Yes, I used a contrast thread

for zigzagging over the fishing line for the gathering.

I often use up old spools of thread

for gathering so I don't waste my

matching thread.

  

Now it looks almost complete!

I am in love!!

This is where the sofa back joins the rest of the 

slipcover.

All that is left to sew now, 

are the 3 seat cushions!

Yahoooooo!!!!!

I will post those photos in a day or so.

Happy Sewing!

Update: Part 3 is up and you can read it 

HERE

Sivje

The New Slipcover For the Old Ugly Sofa- Part 1

This is the "AFTER".

 (Yes, I know, I just made you read the ending
of the book before the beginning. But I just wanted to give you
hope that I really did finish this project!)

This was the "BEFORE".

Nice, huh?

What?
You think it is ugly????

Yeah, so did I!

But I bought it because my beloved 

yellow floral Laura Ashley sofa finally bit the dust

last year.  

I cried. 

So, we went to a lot of thrift stores,

where I measured a lot of sofas,

looking for the "footprint" or size and shape

that would work for my plans.

I wanted something that was built of solid wood,
had good springs, decent cushions,
and didn't "creak" when we sat on it.

$50.00 cash and we hauled it away!
We actually lived with the sofa like this
for almost a year while I did a lot of
other sewing.
And a lot of life happened,
 and the ugly sofa was not a priority.
And then we packed the house
and moved to our new home, where we live now.

But this sofa looked even nastier after the move,
in our current house.

Just....yuck.

So last month, I decided it was time.
I decided that a fitted slipcover
would look neater than a simple drape slipcover.
That meant I would need to make piping,
put in zippers, and cover each cushion separately.

So, grab some coffee and get comfy.
This is a long post with lots of pictures!

I measured every part of the sofa.
I added 1-2" for each side for seam allowances.

I graphed out every section as a rectangle and
then figured out how much fabric I would need
for each piece.

Thankfully, I had purchased about 20 yards
of rose cotton damask from Laura Ashley
when they were closing down all the U.S retail stores.

I also figured I would need  cording for about 26-30 yards of piping,
5 zippers
and some batting to wrap the cushions,
in addition to upholstery thread,
lots of pins, heavy duty machine needles,
cutting boards, rulers, scissors and pens.

I started the whole thing by making yards and yards
of self piping. This fabric had a very slightly
asymmetrical diamond pattern.
I didn't realize it was off, until I started making the bias.

I figured that for the 1/4" cording I was using,
I would need my bias strips to be 1-3/4" wide.

The bias is the diagonal line of the fabric.
That is important because piping needs to be smooth going
around curved areas.
It will pucker if you make the piping out of the straight grain,
either across the width of the fabric, or down the length.

After drawing my rows 1 3/4" apart,
I cut the strips apart.
I sewed the strips together and pressed the seams open.

Then I sewed the cording into the bias using the
zipper foot on my sewing machine.

(This is the Bernina 707 I rescued from
it's lonely life in my MIL's garage. Let's say
I liberated it. )

I don't love making piping but I love the look.

Then I started to cut rectangles of the fabric.

I laid the fabric wrong side out, 

so that I could pin the seams on the outside.

I pinned each step as I went.

A very wise friend told me to start with 

the arms. She said if I could get the arms to fit,

then the rest would be easy. 

So, I took her advice.

Pinning the arms made me nervous,

because of the curves.

I cut each piece as a rectangle,

then pinned and trimmed away the extra,

allowing about a 1/2" for seams.

The front of the arm was slightly smaller than the side, 

so I had to pin tiny tucks to make it fit.

Then I pinned the side panels to the arm and front.

Sorry this is blurry. 

After I cut the extra off the arm front panel,

I unpinned it and then pinned the piping

along the outer edges.

I left the ends long enough so I could join the front and 

side panels to the arm front panel. 

I clipped around the curve so the seams would not pucker. 

Then I stitched it on to the front arm panel,

using my zipper foot again. 

The zipper foot is helpful because.

I can get the stitches right up to the 

cording part of the piping. 

I pinned the side panel to the side of the top arm panel, 

with the piping in the seam. 

Then I sewed this seam.

I pinned the tucks in place and then stitched them down.

Then I repinned the front arm panel to the side panel/ 

top arm, panel.

Then I took the whole arm piece off and sewed it all together.

This is an awful photo,

but it shows how the arm joins

to the seat deck of the sofa.

As I sewed each piece of piping to it's panel,

I would pull out about an inch of the

cording and cut it off.

This is important because that cording makes

the joining at seams really bulky.

Well looky there! 

A fitted arm!

I did the same thing to each side and it fit perfectly.

I think this is a good stopping place for Part 1.

My computer is misbehaving, 

so I will just 

 post this part and then post part 2 in a day or so.

Update: Part 2 is up now and you can read it
HERE

and you can read Part 3 HERE

Happy Sewing!

Sivje

Summer Vacation Sewing

Ahnalin is now on Summer Vacation.

I realized that I had not made this poor child

a new summer outfit since....

well......

LAST SUMMER!!!

Poor thing!

So we went stash diving and found some 

fabric combos that looked

just a little more "tween".

Ahnalin picked this orange denim

for a skort.

She is really starting to prefer a more

tailored look and requested 

a straighter style.

  

She still wants shorts instead of just 

skirts because she is quite the rough and tumble girl.

This was my first version of this skort.

The front wraps to the side 

and the back is a fuller short.

This is the rear view of the outfit.

I used an old top pattern 

that I had used for India when she was little. 

Ahnalin pulled this flip flop fabric out of the

stash and felt it was the perfect combination.

She even found flip flop buttons

in the button jar!

Perfect outfit for a smoothie, 

as she is demonstrating.

Sorry for the indoor photo.

I actually took this in the morning

before school that last week.

She was a bit nervous to wear this to school

as she felt the open back was a bit 

"inappropriate".

So she put a tank top underneath just for during school.

Then she pulled out this embroidered denim

and found this dragon fly applique and 

requested another skort in the 

"same style, but smaller please, Mom".

This time, I cut the short down by a few inches

so the fit was slimmer. 

The top was just a 3/8 yard remnant

of pink ponte knit I had probably 

had in my stash for 15 years. 

She just wanted a simple tank top.

She didn't want to wait for me to 

embellish it

because she likes it 

"tailored, mom, like a uniform".

Really? Are frills gone?

Maybe I can still sew ruffles on dresses for her...

 

She wore it the last day of school.

The sun was really bright as we were walking

so she is making a squint face.

But she has worn these two outfits

nearly every day since I made them.

I think I need to make her more.

 

And this........

Well, This is the swimsuit

I made her a few years ago.

At least 3 or 4 years ago....

when my sewing machine was in the shop....

and I sewed it completely on Ahnalin's

Hello Kitty Janome.

It is her favorite swimsuit.

And it was way too short in the crotch.

So, she asked me to cut it in half

and make a tankini for her.

Yes, I have a serger,

but we don't get along.

(I am praying for a Baby Lock!!)

So I quickly grabbed some Fold-Over Elastic,

FOE, and stitched it on the cut edges.

New Bottom.

Top almost done.

Voila!

"New" tankini!

And we are off to the splash pad now!

Happy Sewing!

Sivje

(Pst....I still need to post photos of Ahnalin

in her Pioneer School Costume. Ey Yi Yi!)